Gay groups hit Huckabee

Gay groups are lashing out at former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee for saying in a recent interview that he doesn’t support gay marriage, in part, because of the “ick factor.”

Huckabee made the comments to the New Yorker during interviews for a lengthy, and mostly positive, profile of the 2008 presidential candidate.

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“I do believe that God created male and female and intended for marriage to be the relationship of the two opposite sexes,” Huckabee said in explaining his views on gay marriage. “Male and female are biologically compatible to have a relationship. We can get into the ick factor, but the fact is two men in a relationship, two women in a relationship, biologically, that doesn't work the same.”

Huckabee later joked in the profile that “the only thing worse than a torrid affair with sweet, sweet Nancy [Pelosi] would be a torrid affair with Helen Thomas. If those were my only options, I'd probably be for same-sex marriage!”

Asked about the former governor’s comments by POLITICO, Human Rights Campaign Vice President Fred Sainz said Huckabee’s statements come as “no surprise from a man who is consistently wrong and uninformed.”

“Ick is being fired from a job, being the victim of a hate crime or being bullied at school simply because you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,” Sainz added. “And ick is certainly an appropriate way to describe Mr. Huckabee’s mind going to sex when all that we are asking for is our equality. Ick indeed.”

Huckabee has a long history of controversial statements on gay marriage, notably comparing the practice to incest, polygamy and drug use in April.

“There are a lot of people who like to use drugs so let's go ahead and accommodate those who want to use drugs,” Huckabee said during the April speech to The College of New Jersey. “There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, should we accommodate them?”

That history, Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund Vice President Denis Dison wrote in an e-mail, is what gay groups find so objectionable.

“The man keeps putting his foot in his mouth,” said Dison. “Talk about 'ick factor.' One can only guess Gov. Huckabee has discovered he gets more press hits every time he says something stupid about gay people.”